Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Yukio Edano, who as the Chief Cabinet Secretary (mouthpiece) in the Kan Administration appeared several times a day during the early days of the Fukushima nuke crisis to soothe and reassure the general public that everything was under the government control and that there was nothing to worry about, now says he only used the famous "No immediate effect on health" only 7 times in the press conferences which he says there were 39.

He is a lawyer by training, by the way.

Answering the LDP politician Seiichiro Murakami who questioned the inadequate government response in the early days of the crisis during the Budget Committee in the Lower House of the Diet on November 8, Edano responded:

I held 39 press conferences during the first two weeks of March 11. Of those 39, I said "There is no immediate damage to the body or the health" 7 times. Of those 7, I referred to food and drinks 5 times. I wasn't talking about the generalities and did not say there was no immediate effect. I simply said, repeatedly, that there was a standard set so that if one drank milk for one year that had radioactive materials in it there would be a damage to the health, and that there would be no immediate problem if one consumed such drink once or twice.

Clearly, Edano thinks everyone except himself is so dumb and forgetful that he can get away with it.

First, even if it was only 7 times that he said "no immediate effect, or damage", that was amplified by several orders of magnitude by the media and by the government experts who were on TV, radio, almost 24/7 in the early days.

Second, he most definitely did not say that the provisional safety standards were set so that if one consumed contaminated food or drink for one year there would be negative effects. He is now saying, "Oh didn't I tell you that? That was what the provisional safety limits were for, and I thought that was obvious to everyone, no?"

Third, he certainly did not say "once or twice" when he talked about the provisional safety limits. The experts that the government sent to TV stations in the early days did their best in propagating variations of Edano's "no effect" message, reassuring the general public.

Edano's excuse? "The government did not have detailed information on radiation levels."

In the Q&A in the Budget Meeting on November 8, Edano referred to the remaining one or two occasions where he used the phrase "no immediate effect or problem"other than about food and drink, and that is about the air radiation levels in the areas northwest of the plant. He said,

Eventually the areas northwest of the plant turned out to have high radiation levels. Regarding the high radiation levels in these areas, all I said was that they were not the levels of radiation that would affect [the health, or the body] in a short period of time; I didn't say [or mean] staying there long-term [and no effect]. Therefore, the radiation monitoring in the areas must be strengthened in order to confirm whether it would be OK to live there long-term, that's what I said.

Eventually?? That's a lie right off the bat. The national government, and the Fukushima prefectural government, knew from the very early days that the radiation coming out of Fukushima I Nuke Plant was significant, particularly in the northwest of the plant (they detected tellurium in the morning of March 12 in Namie-machi, for one) and they were well aware that the core meltdown may have happened, as Goshi Hosono, current Minister in charge of nuclear accident and then-PM assistant, openly admitted on TV (and no one said anything, and he was rewarded with minister job). Asahi Shinbun's "Trap of Prometeus" (translated posts by following the link) relates how different government agencies and the Self Defense Force were measuring, without telling the residents, the radiation levels all over Fukushima; in Namie-machi, the air radiation was over 100 microsieverts/hour, and the government, and certainly the spokesman Edano knew full well.

If he meant "short period of time", he certainly did not say that, and people continued to live in the areas, assured by his words and the words of the experts like Dr. Yamashita and his sidekick Dr. Takamura, who told the villagers in Iitate-mura that there was nothing to worry about and they could continue to live there with no problem.

But the LDP politician simply moved on in the Q&A, instead of pressing Edano on the issue.

17
comments:

kintaman
said...

I remember sitting in my mother-in-law's home in Kyushu, after we evacuated Tokyo, watching Edano saying "no immediate threat to human health". I stood up and yelled that he was lying at that time. My mother-in-law was furious at me and still does not speak to me (calling me a devil).

It is common sense that no one can trust the government, especially in a crisis time like this. One rule everyone should know is that when the government says "do not panic", that is when you should panic and take action.

The cowardly liar Edano must surely know that when the illnesses begin on a large scale that the people of Japan will demand he be hanged. There can be no escaping this. He has sealed his fate by telling such evil lies to his own people. Keep in mind that this is the devious liar who also evacuated his own family to the Philippines while he told everyone else to stay put and be calm.

I sincerely hope that Tokyobrowntabby will translate this youtube video so everyone can see him backpeddaling.

I would also like to see a follow-up interview with Masataka Shimizu, the TEPCO CEO who wanted to abandon the power plants as they were melting down!

Quote from NYTimes article:

"Then on March 14, the gravity of the plant’s situation was revealed by a second explosion, this time at Reactor No. 3, and a startling request that night from Tepco’s president, Masataka Shimizu: that Tepco be allowed to withdraw its employees from the plant because it had become too dangerous to remain."

Yes, this is something I have wanted to know for quite some time....where is Masataka Shimizu. Why is he allowed to slip away into obscurity with his millions of dollars. Just as the previous poster said, he is probably out of Japan or in the far south.

This guys "no immediate health effects" nonsense after the explosions at the nuke plants is what will ultimately get him locked up because it was criminal without any question. That is why he is now trying to worm his way out of it...

Edano's statements about the safety standard don't make any sense to me. Is he really saying that those who consumed food that complied with the provisional standard would still suffer negative health effects? what kind of safety standard is that?

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't food that meets this standard still being sold in Japan? Almost 8 months have passed since the accident. Is Edano suggesting that, for example, in all that time a consumer was expected to drink only one or two glasses of milk?

@Mike, it does seem he is now saying if you eat food that is near the upper limit of the provisional safety limit for one year, you may get sick. He definitely did not say it like that when he was telling people "No immediate effect". But now, since the Food Safety Commission has formally proposed 100 millisieverts lifetime radiation, major MSMs are finally saying "If you consume food and drink at the provisional safety limits, you are to get 5 millisieverts per year for radioactive cesium, and 2 millisieverts per year for radioactive iodine.

Their cover? That information was there from the beginning, but no one cared to draw attention to it. I wrote about it in my Japanese blog in April to warn readers, but alas at that time my readership was very small.

What kind of standard? Supposedly so that people won't starve to death.

The food and drink that test below these limits are sold in Japan as "safe" food and drink, and consumers are scolded if they dare refuse.

Please don't pick on poor little Edano. After all, rumour has it that the first thing he did was send his family to Singapore. At least he has a shread of humanity. Kan, the one who chucked the radiation into the sea, and Shimazu and others, must answer in a court of law. Hanging is uncivil. But first, find a solution, evacuate people and release information to the public.

Edano's excuse? "The government did not have detailed information on radiation levels."

The Chernobyl documents prove how banal this talkin head statement is. At the moment there are multiple organizations watching radiation levels, plus most governments have their own institutes with myriad measurement points - AND vehicles with germanium detectors screening surroundings, block by block, all over the globe.

The amount of collected information is overwhelming and detail level unbelievable. The Today continuing fallout is seen in all this data.

TOTAL INFORMATION BLACKOUT.

How can this blackout be globally so airtight and continuing? Only if t-here is a global airtight control. And that is not just ‘the press’. What else can the irradiated call it than je§uital fascism? Biggest mass murderers of our recent history are members of this papal pen.

You mean that odious back-peddling circus monkey Edano or the unhinged Finnish troll? Regardless, the answer is YES !! If ever there was a reason for some GODLY SMITING--THIS IS IT! As far as ME punishing them, well it will have to wait until they get DOWN HERE. I've got a couple of bull's eye T-shirts they can wear while we play "Vacation in Bagdad". I don't want to give away too much but the troll also gets a lesson on depleted uranium and how it can be used in an enema.

About my coverage of Japan Earthquake of March 11

I am Japanese, and I not only read Japanese news sources for information on earthquake and the Fukushima Nuke Plant but also watch press conferences via the Internet when I can and summarize my findings, adding my observations.

About This Site

Well, this was, until March 11, 2011. Now it is taken over by the events in Japan, first earthquake and tsunami but quickly by the nuke reactor accident. It continues to be a one-person (me) blog, and I haven't even managed to update the sidebars after 5 months... Thanks for coming, spread the word.------------------This is an aggregator site of blogs coming out of SKF (double-short financials ETF) message board at Yahoo.

Along with commentary on day's financial news, it also provides links to the sites with financial and economic news, market data, stock technical analysis, and other relevant information that could potentially affect the financial markets and beyond.

Disclaimer: None of the posts or links is meant to be a recommendation, advice or endorsement of any kind. The site is for information and entertainment purposes only.